Explore Home - A Podcast from Universal Furniture
Welcome to the Explore Home podcast brought to you by Universal Furniture. Hosted by Neil MacKenzie, Explore Home navigates all of the latest happenings within the furniture industry, from design trends to changing marketing strategies. Featuring a new guest every episode, we dive into their unique skillset and knowledge as it relates to furniture in a warm, casual, conversational tone. Expect to hear from a range of top authorities, including furniture business professionals, interior designers, design bloggers and influencers.
Episodes
This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Megan Molten, founder and creative director of her eponymous design firm in Charleston, South Carolina. Tune in as Neil sits down with Megan to discuss her design career journey, the importance of building ironclad client relationships, and her forthcoming work featured in Flower Magazine. Megan explains how the positive feedback generated from her design-focused social media accounts g...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast. This week, we invite you to explore home with Yvonne Christensen and Nichole Speirs, owners of Utah-based House West Design. Listen as Yvonne and Nichole discuss how “meeting” on Instagram led to joining forces and opening House West Design. They discuss the challenges of merging two companies together, from day-to-day processes to delegation and hiring the right team. Over the course of the las...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Rydhima Brar, founder and principal of R/Terior Studio based in Los Angeles, California. Listen as Rydhima discusses opening her interior design business at the very start of COVID and how her previous corporate role helped her pivot her business strategy. Then, Rydhima shares with Neil more about her childhood growing up in Kuwait and how her upbrin...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast. This week, we invite you to explore home with Carmin Black, Founder of Half United. Half United is a for-profit philanthropic company that puts helping others above profit. Selling “socially good goods,” Half United works with artisans in developing countries to produce one-of-a-kind items. This leads to gainful employment in places that are in desperate need of opportunities.
Neil and Carmin tal...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast. This week, we invite you to explore home with John McClain, CEO and Creative Director of John McClain Design. Home design is in John’s blood, his family built homes and he tagged along as a kid. This led to the discovery that he loved every aspect of home design, from the foundation to the roof.
Neil and John talk about how he began by decorating friends’ homes for a free lunch. On a whim, he au...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast. This week, we invite you to explore home with Tammy Nagem, President and CEO of High Point Market Authority. As the newly appointed HPMA President, Tammy describes her transition into the role and the anticipation of the upcoming Spring High Point Market.
Tammy and Neil discuss how anyone who is serious about the home furnishings business needs to attend HPMKT. It is the epicenter of the furnish...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast. This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Erika Ward, owner of Erika Ward Interiors in Atlanta. Listen as Erika describes her journey from majoring in finance at the University of Georgia to working at her family-owned flooring business. There, she put her business acumen to the test with budgeting and estimating construction projects.
Erika used this experience to be hired as the project ac...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Amy Bartlam, owner of Los Angeles based Amy Bartlam Photography. Listen as Amy describes her road to becoming an interior design photographer. As a child in England, both her parents were deeply involved in the arts, and encouraged their children to be so as well. Amy's father let her use his cameras for school projects and a lifelong love affai...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Will Brinson, CBS Sports Senior Writer. Listen as Will details how he went from an English major at NC State to a sports writer for CBS. Will began his career writing on sports message boards on his lunch breaks, he caught the eye of a sports blogger and from there, worked his way up the ranks. He has been hanging on tight to his dream job ever sinc...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Erinn Valencich, interior designer, real estate developer, and entrepreneur. Listen as Erinn details how she first made her way into the design industry, starting with some special childhood roots. Neil and Erinn then touch on Erinn’s progression into the custom design industry. They then discuss Erinn’s exciting new furniture collaboration with Univ...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with our very own Director of Product Development at Universal Furniture, Shannon Lookabill! Listen as Neil and Shannon first start by discussing Shannon’s journey into furniture design, beginning with influence from his family as a child. They then touch on Shannon’s start at Universal and later delve into the detailed process of creating furniture produ...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Jonathan Vehar, Partner at Pilgrimage Professional Development Group. At Pilgrimage, Jonathan partners with organizations to help them more effectively and efficiently achieve their goals through a focus on teamwork and communication. Listen as Neil and Jonathan discuss the art of setting goals at the top of every new year. Jonathan elaborates on his...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week, we invite you to Explore Home with Kelli Lamb, Editorial Director and Co-Principal of RUE Magazine. Neil and Kelli kick their chat off by discussing more about Kelli’s professional start in blogging and how she eventually made her way to Rue Magazine. They discuss the many ways RUE has grown and changed since Kelli first joined the team as an assistant. Neil and Kelli then discuss a n...
Welcome to the Explore Home podcast! This week we invite you to Explore Home with Patrick and Meghan Sharp of design studio Mister + Mrs Sharp. They first detail how they met — within the visual merchandising department of Banana Republic — and how their time spent in retail naturally propelled them into the furniture and design industry. They then discuss their perspective on working alongside your significant other, and why they ...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week we invite you to Explore Home with Tiffany Cassidy, principal designer of Lagnappe Custom Interiors located in St. Thomas, VI. Listen as Tiffany discusses her journey to living and working in the Caribbean, starting with earning a degree in chemistry and eventually finding her way to upholstery, fabrics, and now, interior design. Tiffany then shares a bit more about island life, detail...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week we invite you to Explore Home with Ginna Christensen, interior design leadership expert, business coach and consultant. First, Ginna details the start of her career at Giorgio Armani and how the lessons learned there helped shape her professional foundation as she moved from fashion to interiors. Then, Ginna and Neil delve into the topics that Ginna typically focuses on with her client...
Explore Home with Amy Lynn Schwartzbard and Patti Carpenter, Co-Founders of the Kaleidoscope Project
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week we invite you to Explore Home with designers Patti Carpenter and AmyLynn Schwartzbard as they join Neil to discuss the Kaleidoscope Project. This exciting design initiative took place at the Cornell Inn in Lennox, MA as a group of 23 diverse, under-represented interior professionals renovated and redesigned 21 unique rooms within the space. Patti and AmyLynn detail the entire evolution...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week we invite you to Explore Home with Ericka Saurit of Saurit Creative, a digital marketing firm for the home industry. Listen as Neil and Ericka start with a brief history of Ericka’s professional career, including her years spent living and working in China. They then touch on Ericka’s involvement with Airbnb to build their Airbnb Plus division along with Universal Furniture. She then e...
Welcome to the Explore Home Podcast! This week we invite you to Explore Home with Sharon Savage of Lancaster Custom Crafted Upholstery and Don Massenburg of Design Inkredible. Listen as they begin by discussing the various challenges and opportunities that COVID-19 has presented within the design industry in the last year. Then, Neil, Sharon and Don discuss HPxD (High Point by Design) — what it is, what its mission is and how it is...
Welcome to Explore Home Podcast! This week we explore home with Danny Seo,
Publisher and Co-Principal of RUE Magazine.
Danny is the epitome of a modern-day Renaissance man, he is the author of 14 books, has run a non-profit organization, worked with Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon, and produced and starred on an Emmy award winning lifestyle show.
Neil and Danny discuss his unusual and inspiring childhood. On his 12th birthday, wh...
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